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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Bidar got heritage city tag

Bidar is one among the 6 districts which got heritage city status from Karnataka Government.

The state government has declared Mysore, Srirangapatna, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Bidar and Kittur as heritage cities and is going to spend Rs7 crore to develop these heritage cities.

Announcing this, Kannada and culture minister Govind Karjol said: “Considering the rich historical background of these six places, the state government has declared them as heritage cities. An action plan has been prepared to develop these places and to protect their historical buildings and monuments.”

Referring to the chief minister’s announcement in the state budget to release Rs3 crore for installing Basavanna’s statue in London, Karjol said that Rs1.5 crore had been released for the purpose. Lambeth’s former Kannadiga mayor Neeraj Patil had taken special interest and finalised a place for installing the statue, he said and added that Patil was taking care of the remaining things regarding the statue. The remaining amount will be released as the work progresses, he said.

The minister also said that search was on for a suitable spot in Bangalore for installing the statue of Goddess Bhuvaneshwari, the state deity.

“We have several options in mind and chief minister BS Yeddyurappa will take a final decision in this regard, he said.

For 2011-12, the state government has allotted Rs163 crore for Kannada and culture department, which has taken up several initiatives including setting up a branch of the Rangayana theatre repertory in Shimoga and Dharwad. About Rs3 crore will be spent on each repertory branch. he added.